Disclaimer: I don't own the series Charmed or any of the original characters.
A/N: I really need someone to remind me why I decided to study history, because all of this studying, all the facts and the boring events, kind of make me hate it...Anyway, here's the next chapter!
It was a weird sensation certainly. Paige wasn't sure she'd ever get used to it. Accepting her Wiccan heritage had brought a lot of new things in her life, like for example dying an alarming number of times. Of course she always managed somehow to come back, but that didn't make the feeling any less odd.
"What just happened?" she questioned as she saw her body lying on a heap at her feet, already knowing the answer to her question.
"I don't know but I don't think it's good," Phoebe said as she also looked at her body. She did a double take and noticed that Melinda was there looking distraught "Melinda," she said surprised and the brunette looked up.
"Phoebe!" Melinda exclaimed jumping up "Paige, I'm sorry, I was too late," she said with a slow shake of her head as tears prickled in her eyes.
"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known," Paige heard herself saying, feeling sorry for the Whitelighter that had to find them in this situation.
"I know but if I'd manage to make Chris see reason, if you'd come with us..." she stopped and shook her head again "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Phoebe said sympathetically and Melinda's green eyes flashed to her face.
"How can it be?"
"Because we are still here, which means we are not dead, not yet. Nothing that a little healing can't fix," Phoebe said forcing herself to see past the way Melinda's shoulders hunched in defeat, or the way her eyes crinkled when she cried. The girl's resemblance of her eldest sister was distracting. Melinda nodded and was ready to call for Leo when Paige stopped her.
"Why don't you give it a try?"
"Paige I don't know how much more time we have," Melinda said urgently and she saw that Phoebe agreed with her.
"Well just humour me," Paige insisted. She could feel Phoebe's eyes on the side of her head but she didn't care.
After the conversation, the very brief one, that she shared with Melinda the previous day Paige had decided that she trusted the younger woman. She also felt the inexplicable urge to help her. It was much like with Chris, only the stubborn Whitelighter didn't seem to often hear what she was saying. Paige wanted to help him, but in most cases Chris trapped himself in the corner and she just couldn't. Melinda though was a different case, she was more willing to compromise than Chris, she was more open when she needed help. And Paige was going to help her, one way or the other.
Melinda looked in her Aunt's eyes but Paige didn't back away. With a resigned sigh she knelt by the bodies again and rolling them both on their backs she raised her hands, palms down, over Paige's body. She wished her power to work, just this once, just like it did with Anwen.
"I can't..." she murmured.
"You're blocking it," Paige said her voice soothing "I can feel a tagging, the power is there, you just need to concentrate for a second."
Well this was easier said than done! All Melinda could think of was Chris coming face to face with the Dark Knight while defenceless. She never heard the whole story, she never knew what happened to her mother and how Piper broke free from the influence of the sword but something told her that she didn't really want to know. She shivered as fear for Chris' wellbeing ran throughout her. The man that was and wasn't her brother was too focused on his mission. She just knew that he wouldn't use his powers in front of Piper no matter what, and that could very well be his demise. Melinda couldn't let Chris die! She wouldn't.
"C'mon damn it!" she hissed through her teeth.
"Try to relax Melinda;" her Aunt's voice was ever so soothing "Witches powers are tied to their emotions, mostly anger, but when it comes to Whitelighters all you really need is to keep calm. You need to unwind; you know how to make it work."
Phoebe was rather impressed with Paige's careful instructions. For a half Whitelighter that couldn't heal, her baby sister was doing a pretty good job at helping Melinda. Phoebe felt pride filling her in and out as she looked fondly at the redhead witch that stood next to her. Melinda took a deep breath. Okay, you can do this Mel, you can, she pep talked herself. She'd done it before, it was only a matter of will. She thought of her Aunts depending on her, of Chris facing the Excalibur all alone, of Wyatt turning evil...
No all these thoughts wouldn't do! Love, Leo always insisted that the one feeling that would unlock her healing power was love. So Melinda remembered of her mother's hug every night before she went to bed. She remembered of Chris and Wyatt taking care of her boyfriend problem in middle school when she found out that Michael Montgomery was cheating on her. She remembered of the orbing sessions she had with Paige and how afterwards her Aunt would always take her out for ice-cream...She didn't even notice the golden glow that appeared underneath her fingertips. The power grew inside of her finding an outlet through her fingers. It spread on Paige's limp body and after a while the youngest Haliwell sister stirred.
"Good job," she admonished her voice hoarse. Melinda's eyes snapped open and she looked down to her Aunt.
"Thank you," she said in a low voice, a million of emotions playing in her eyes. She quickly retrieved her gaze though and turned her attention to Phoebe. The middle Charmed One gasped after a while and sat bolt up.
"Thanks," she said with an appreciative grin to Melinda. The girl inclined her head when she felt it. It was Chris, and boy was he in trouble.
"I need to go," she said jumping up. Paige followed suit but Phoebe needed some help, she had much less time to recollect herself, so the youngest sister lent her a hand.
"We're coming with," Paige said in a non-negotiable tone. Melinda sighed.
"You won't like what you'll see," she warned them before she orbed away knowing that the two sisters would follow her.
Chris was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. He could keep himself hidden; avoid using his powers and putting his mission into risk, while knowing that this could only end in a disaster. Or he could do the right thing, as his late Uncle Henry would say, and fight this tooth and nail.
The problem was that he had no idea what he'd do after he came out. Would he be able to take all six demons out? Most probably, but what about Piper? One look on his mother's face and he would let her take his head off with the Excalibur. No, Chris had to come up with some kind of plan, before his time ran out.
"Chris," he heard Melinda's whisper and startled he turned around to see her curled behind a rock to his left. Chris cast a look over to the table and making sure that he wasn't being watched he went to her "So I take it we aren't alone anymore," Melinda said looking at the round table.
"No. What happened?" Chris asked anxiously.
"I managed to heal Paige and Phoebe, Aunty Paige is really good at guiding me through it," Melinda said with a small smile. Chris though was taken aback.
"They needed healing? But I didn't sense anything! How come you did and I didn't? I'm supposed to be their Whitelighter!" Chris said a little bit affronted.
"Oh it has to do more with my witch side not the..." Melinda shut up when she saw Paige and Phoebe materialising in the cavern. Problem was they didn't do so behind a rock, but rather in the middle of the room.
"What is this?" one of the demons demanded making a move to stand up.
"It's a trap! These are the Charmed Ones!" another one quipped his eyes flickering between the sisters.
"Did you bring us here to kill us?" the only female demon in the table question and murmurs started going around the table.
"Be quite!" the Dark knight ordered "Place your hands over the pentacle and then we'll deal with the little pest problem."
"Hey!" Paige exclaimed offended but seeing that they didn't have a potion, or a spell that would work on him unless they convinced Piper to join them, Paige had to let it slide. The demons threw a couple of wary looks at each other but eventually did put their hands over the curving on the table. One by one they burst into a jet of golden light, making the pentacle glow. The power oozed on the shape as if liquid gold and it slowly drew itself towards the Dark Night's hand. He was the only one still alive.
"What are you doing?" Piper demanded and Melinda threw a glance towards her mother to see the sword shinning in her hands.
"Chris you have to call for it," she said but Chris shook his head violently "Chris c'mon, stop being a child..."
"I'm not being a child," Chris snapped his voice harsh "The sword doesn't belong to me anyway so it won't come."
"What?" Melinda asked stupidly, and Chris looked at her face.
"Excalibur is Wyatt's," he said simply and she shook her head in denial.
"No it isn't."
"Yes it is, Lin, what are you on?"
"Chris the sword was never Wyatt's. Mom could take it out of the rock..."
"Because she was the Lady of the Lake and she was meant to pass it to king Arthur when the time was right; the ultimate power on Earth."
"Yes," Melinda agreed "But you forget," she said a glimmer of mirth in her eyes "In the original time line, the one we didn't mess up with, Mom was pregnant with you when the previous Lady of the Lake died."
"No," Chris muttered shaking his head.
"Yes, Chris, she was pregnant and that's why she could pull the sword out, because it was meant for you, only you were kind of preoccupied at the moment," she said with a smile.
"Then why did she pull it out today?"
"Because she's still the Lady of the Lake, she's still your mom. And the only reason why Wyatt and I can somewhat handle the sword is because we share the same blood. Chris, the Excalibur is yours."
All these years. All these deaths he could've stopped. All the times Wyatt had threatened him with the hated weapon. And all this time it was his. It belonged to him. No this couldn't be true, Chris couldn't handle it if it was. He was slowly shaking his head muttering no when Melinda put her hand on his arm.
"Just call for it. The prophecy said that the wielder was the son of a Charmed One...if you're afraid of exposure we can say that you're Aunt Prue's illegitimate child with Andy or something," Melinda mumbled and she noticed that Chris was looking at her incredulously "Just please," she begged.
Chris lowered his gaze. If it was true then he'd let so many innocent people die because of his own stupidity. He'd never questioned whether Wyatt was really the son the prophecy talked about. He just guessed that because he was the Twice-Blessed child he was also the one to inherit the Excalibur. But it had never occurred to him that there were never two different prophecies regarding the same person, even if that person was as powerful as his brother.
Phoebe's anguished cry pierced through him and his head snapped up. He felt his stomach falling to his knees in the sight and he registered faintly Melinda's shrieking reaction. The blood glimmered on the silver blade and Piper's face grew paler and paler as the Dark Knight held the sword inside her body, far longer than needed.
"No!" Chris yelled and he raised his hand.
The demon crashed back against the wall of the cave the sword flying away from his hand. Phoebe and Paige quickly rushed to their sister's side, but Melinda was stood frozen in place. The demon was quickly back to his feet but Chris was too angry to let him off that easily. Chris flicked his hand and he slammed against the wall again. He clenched his fist and the demon started trembling, gasping for breath, clawing at his neck as if to pry away invisible hands.
Chris lowered his hand to let him down before he quickly span it upwards in a fluid motion. The demon crashed on the ceiling with a sickening sound that made Chris smile. He let him fall on the ground of the cavern like a rugged doll. Chris eyed the fallen sword which was smeared with his mother's blood. The revulsion in him was so great that for a second he was sure he was going to throw up. Until the demon stirred.
"Excalibur," Chris called in a cool voice and the sword orbed in his hand.
A/N: Yeah it's been done a lot before, the story about Excalibur being Chris', but I had to do it because I do believe it's true. I mean the prophecy didn't SAY that it was Wyatt's...Anyway, this was a short one, but I'll probably update tomorrow, is that good enough? I hope it is.